Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 74511518c214e2b8…

MALICIOUS

PDF

376.9 KB Created: 2008-02-14 21:48:48 Authoring application: Microsoft® Office Word 2007 First seen: 2015-09-30
MD5: 9800dfac8f412389d8860dda048e5c00 SHA-1: dde101cf3a1e7ea7424b7ef59128b611aa9a43d3 SHA-256: 74511518c214e2b83195510c545d2eb4b0290d2261094fe3c0aa776a0f992ff5
578 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1059.007 JavaScript T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that utilizes the `exportDataObject` function, which is known to be used for dropping payloads. This action is paired with a PDF launch action that targets `cmd.exe`, indicating an attempt to execute a second-stage payload. The embedded executable payload, detected by ClamAV as Win.Downloader.24568-1, is disguised as a PDF document named 'posSecurityGuide.pdf', further suggesting a malicious intent to trick the user into executing it.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9919

Heuristics 14

  • Adobe Reader Launch action command execution critical CVE exact CVE_2010_1240
    PDF uses the Adobe Reader/Acrobat Launch action pattern associated with CVE-2010-1240: cmd.exe is invoked with attacker-controlled parameters, paired with an embedded/exported payload.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586
  • Launch action critical PDF_LAUNCH
    PDF contains a /Launch action whose target is an executable, URL, or UNC path — can start an external application
  • Embedded Windows executable payload in PDF stream critical PDF_EMBEDDED_PE_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain an embedded Windows executable with a verified PE header. Exploit chains often hide droppers inside ordinary streams rather than standard /EmbeddedFile attachments.
  • /Launch action target: cmd.exe critical PDF_LAUNCH_COMMAND
    PDF /Launch action specifies an executable target with parameters '/Q /C %HOMEDRIVE%&cd %HOMEPATH%&(if exist "Desktop\\posSecurityGuide.pdf" (cd "Desktop"' — references a known-dangerous executable (cmd, PowerShell, etc.).
  • Embedded attachment masquerades: declared document, content is windows-executable critical PDF_EMBEDDED_FILESPEC_CONTENT_MISMATCH
    An /EmbeddedFile attachment's declared filename extension or /Subtype MIME type contradicts the magic bytes of its decompressed content. The attachment is declared as a benign document or image but the bytes are an executable or executable-bearing archive. This is a deliberate deception used to hide droppers in PDF attachments and is a generic indicator of embed-and-drop weaponisation, independent of any specific CVE.
  • /Launch action paired with attachment-dropping JS API high PDF_LAUNCH_PLUS_DROPPER_JS
    PDF combines a /Launch action with a JavaScript API call that writes or opens an attached/external resource — the canonical shape of the CVE-2010-1240 /Launch + exportDataObject family. Benign PDFs do not pair these surfaces; the combination indicates a drop-and-execute chain regardless of the specific JS API knobs or /Launch target.
  • Clickable PDF combines external action with parser-evasion structure high PDF_ACTION_PARSER_EVASION
    PDF has an external clickable URI together with object graph or xref structures that make parsers disagree, such as divergent duplicate objects, parser divergence, or xref offset mismatch. That combination is stronger than a plain link: the document is both an outward-action carrier and a parser-confusion/evasion sample.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact medium EXTRACTED_FILE_STATIC_TRIAGE
    One or more files extracted from inside this sample matched static suspicious-content checks such as script obfuscation, encoded payload blobs, packed data, or execution/download terms.
  • JavaScript action low 1 related finding PDF_JAVASCRIPT
    PDF contains a /JavaScript action. Generic JavaScript is common in benign forms; specific dangerous APIs are scored by separate rules.
  • Embedded JS stream low PDF_JS
    PDF references a /JS stream. Generic JavaScript is common in benign forms; specific dangerous APIs are scored by separate rules.
  • Embedded file low PDF_EMBEDDED
    PDF embeds a file attachment — could carry an executable or another weaponised document as a nested payload
  • External URI info PDF_URI
    PDF contains an external URL action
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://phpsec.org/projects/guide/ In PDF document text
    • http://ocsp.verisign.com0In extracted file (font_00_sfnt_off00039126.bin)
    • http://iatservices.missouri.edu/safeweb/docs/top-20-handout.docPDF link annotation
    • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/prodtech/windowsserver2003/w2003hg/sgch00.mspxIn PDF document text
    • http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/security-guide/In PDF document text
    • http://images.apple.com/server/pdfs/Tiger_Server_Security_Config.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion/articles/cf7_security_print.htmlIn PDF document text
    • http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/owasp/OWASPGuide2.0.1.pdf?downloadIn PDF document text
    • http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/departments/gc/rules/facilities/110/005.shtmlIn PDF document text
    • http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/departments/fa/management/business/manual/0108.shtmlIn PDF document text
    • http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/departments/fa/treasurer/In PDF document text
    • http://iatservices.missouri.edu/safeweb/docs/top-20-PDF link annotation
    • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/prodtech/windowIn PDF document text
    • http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-In PDF document text
    • http://images.apple.com/server/pdfs/Tiger_Server_SecurityIn PDF document text
    • http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion/articles/cf7_securiIn PDF document text
    • http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/owasp/OWASPGuide2In PDF document text
    • http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-In PDF document text
    • http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173195In PDF document text
    • http://www.monotype.com/html/mtname/ms_symbol.htmlhttp://www.monotype.com/html/mtname/ms_welcome.htmlNOTIFICATIONIn extracted file (font_00_sfnt_off00039126.bin)
    • http://www.monotype.com/html/type/license.htmlIn extracted file (font_00_sfnt_off00039126.bin)
    • http://crl.verisign.com/ThawteTimestampingCA.crl0In extracted file (font_00_sfnt_off00039126.bin)
    • http://crl.verisign.com/tss-ca.crl0In extracted file (font_00_sfnt_off00039126.bin)
    • http://crl.microsoft.com/pki/crl/products/CodeSignPCA2.crl0OIn extracted file (font_00_sfnt_off00039126.bin)
    • http://www.microsoft.com/pki/certs/CodeSignPCA2.crt0In extracted file (font_00_sfnt_off00039126.bin)
    • http://www.microsoft.com/typographyIn extracted file (font_00_sfnt_off00039126.bin)

Extracted artifacts 5

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
posSecurityGuide.pdf pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 1501 at offset 0x5C98D 9216 bytes
SHA-256: ba40f011e34eb0ffbeb3914b8d66d6cc352033224e597517ea3f36d3503f7623
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Downloader.24568-1
Obfuscation or payload: likely
actual_type=PE; declared_or_context_type=PDF; filename=posSecurityGuide.pdf; kind=pdf-embedded-file Static shellcode analysis found candidate code region(s). Indicators: SC_PEB_ACCESS, SC_GETPC_CALL, SC_GETPC_CALL
javascript_obj1502_000.js pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 1502 at offset 0x5DE05 65 bytes
SHA-256: 0b4f993eac656febee363479cc551dd37ab4b3a1feb251b82e4bbf16ca4b8727
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
this.exportDataObject({ cName: "posSecurityGuide", nLaunch: 0 });
font_00_sfnt_off00039126.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x39126 23148 bytes
SHA-256: 0b3442a5dcced2030300296a2148b0268e2c3b7f9da43b270d9146a79b0cbfd3
font_01_sfnt_off0003be10.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x3BE10 183212 bytes
SHA-256: 6e103da4ef6f125b75d3bf82ecfb6b8356358f2e3cf94c91f276ccea54c87830
font_02_sfnt_off0004770d.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x4770D 191720 bytes
SHA-256: b92248e3fd669efefbcd96acf403f5e38ab29cfb02ae82807c5a290f9edfb045